Alpine Mobile Home Village rebuilt for the better

Kate Carlsonkcarlson@mdn.net

Published
8:01 am EDT, Saturday, June 23, 2018

Shirley Albach clears out the kitchen of the home she shares with her husband Harry and their two dogs on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 after it was damaged by flooding days earlier. (File Photo/Katy Kildee)

Shirley Albach clears out the kitchen of the home she shares with her husband Harry and their two dogs on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 after it was damaged by flooding days earlier. (File Photo/Katy Kildee)

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Shirley Albach clears out the kitchen of the home she shares with her husband Harry and their two dogs on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 after it was damaged by flooding days earlier. (File Photo/Katy Kildee)

Shirley Albach clears out the kitchen of the home she shares with her husband Harry and their two dogs on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 after it was damaged by flooding days earlier. (File Photo/Katy Kildee)

Alpine Mobile Home Village rebuilt for the better

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A completely rebuilt home is what Shirley Albach has to show from the June 2017 flood, which damaged her unit at Alpine Mobile Home Village to the extent it needing to be stripped to its metal framework.

"I made an improvement on my life, actually, thanks to FEMA," Albach said. "They're the ones that helped us financially in order for us to live in it because it was totaled. You couldn't live in there."

With the help of her son-in-law and grandchildren, the family spent all summer reconstructing Albach's unit, where she lives with her husband, Harry, and two dogs, after the home took in nearly a foot of water during the historic flooding. They were able to move back into their new-and-improved home at the end of August.

The Albach's success story rings true for all of the mobile home park's residents affected by the flooding, despite the area basically being turned into an island last year, said Jon Chambers, Alpine Mobile Home Village property manager.

"People had their gloves on, paintbrush in their hand and went to work," Chambers said. "They did what they had to survive, basically. But when FEMA came in, a lot of them turned a bad scenario into a really good one."

Sturgeon Creek overflowed into the mobile home park, causing about 150 residents from the about 250 units to be evacuated by boat to Sturgeon Road. In the aftermath, 20 homes were affected by the flooding, 12 homes took water inside the dwelling and two units had to be completely removed and disposed from the mobile home village.

The sky opened up Thursday, June 22, 2017, and half a foot of rain fell overnight into Friday.

Firefighters and other officials evacuated residents across the park to Sturgeon Road on Friday where residents watched the flood and rain take over their homes.

Chambers used a front end loader and trailer to assist firefighters with transporting residents to higher ground. Gov. Rick Snyder visited the site and "helped tremendously" in getting FEMA into the park to offer assistance, he said.

"I'd also really like to acknowledge the community of Midland County, several churches and organizations came into the park," Chambers said. "One guy who used to live in a mobile home anonymously donated $5,000 (to residents)."

Management also offered monetary assistance for building materials to the households that had water in their home, Chambers said. Working with the rest of management staff and his son, they cooked 350 hot dogs for all of the residents after the flood, also providing cases of water and chips.

Employees stepped up to the plate in the 6-8 weeks after as residents recovered, Chambers said.

"We tried to do everything we could do to help because it was a time of crisis for them," Chambers explained.

Through everything, the positive attitude residents were able to have was admirable, Chambers said. One resident that probably had the most water in his home was joking with Chambers about having to cut his lawn as firefighters were putting him in a boat to evacuate his property.

"He said, 'I did cut my lawn yesterday, you just can't see it,'" Chambers recalled with a laugh. "That takes someone with a great attitude."

As soon as everything "mellowed out," Chambers and others threw some beers in canoes and paddled around the streets, rolling up into driveways offering their neighbors a beer, he said.

"We were making the best of a bad situation," Chambers said. "It was amazing to see the community come together like that."